El Centro Storm Water and Drought Outreach For Kids

SITUATION ANALYSIS: For a desert farming town such as El Centro, storm water and water conservation practices are of critical importance. Educating children on these topics is a great way to instill healthy habits from an early age and help safeguard the future of the community. The City of El Centro hosts a booth at Earth Day and several other fairs throughout the year with a focus on storm water and drought education. The challenge for Goldstreet was to develop age appropriate materials that would teach kids about these important subjects while still being fun and engaging.

SOLUTION: To bring a sense of fun and excitement to the event booth, Goldstreet helped to create a Plinko game where kids won activity books and other promotional items. The colorful booklets taught kids about storm water and drought practices through mad libs, crosswords, decoders and other games. In order to engage children of different ages and learning styles, Goldstreet developed one book for 1st to 3rd graders and another for 4th to 6th graders. The agency also created give away items such as crayons, pencil sharpeners, sunglasses, water bottles and tote bags. On hand for the adults, were other printed materials on storm water and water conservation. El Centro reports that both kids and their parents were delighted with the Plinko game, books and other giveaways and often returned to the booth a second time. Over the past three years, they estimate a total of 25,000 drought and storm water themed promotional items have been given away at their community events.

“Goldstreet has been an invaluable partner in creating our promotional items. And they are marvelous during the communication process. They keep in constant contact with us throughout our projects.” – Tim Rogers, City of El Centro